COLUMBUS – Max Shore was on a mission when he entered the state tournament unbeaten at 25-0, but he received extra motivation when his younger brother Cooper suffered a loss in Saturday’s semifinal round in what was an unfortunate situation.
And the Viking senior steamrolled through the state tournament and capped his dominating weekend with an 18-3 technical fall victory over Wesley Wydick of Utica in the finals.
“Cooper’s match was a big motivator,” said Max after his second straight state title. “I alway wanted to win a state title with a sibling and Graham was a year too old.”
Miami East coach Mark Rose felt Cooper’s unfortunate situation added fuel to the fire for Max.
“It’s unfortunate what happened to Cooper, but it happens,” Rose said. “It was definitely a big motivator.”
Max’s older brother Graham won a state title at 120 pounds in 2018 when Max was in eighth grade and his younger brother Cooper finished runner-up at 113 pounds last season, while Max claimed his first state title at 120.
And even with the unfortunate circumstances that prevented Cooper from reaching the finals, the Shore family had a huge couple of weeks as their sister Olivia – who was a two-time state champion herself – won a national collegiate title recently.
“It was a huge couple of weeks with Olivia tech-falling her way through nationals,”’ Max said.
The Viking senior, who concluded his final season on the high school mat with an unbeaten 29-0 record – his second straight unbeaten season – had to overcome adversity along the way.
“I tore my labrum before the season, so it was difficult,” Max explained. “But nobody is going to outwork me. I pretty much did what I wanted.”
And having his hand raised for the second time on the biggest stage of high school wrestling is the reward for the hard work
“In a way, it’s hard to believe this is my last high school match,” he said. “But I’m looking forward to future challenges. I’m going to Tiffin and I want to win a national title.”
Coach Rose was impressed with his senior wrestler’s performance.
“What Max did out there tonight is pretty much what he’s done to everybody the last two years,” said Rose in regards to the dominating performance put forth by Max. “Two undefeated seasons – it’s unbelievable what he’s done. He’s an amazing wrestler.”
It capped a weekend of emotional ups and downs for the Vikings.
“We had a good weekend, even though things could have went differently,” summarized Rose. “Three out four guys placed.”
A second state title for Max was the icing on the cake.
